Fuel gases are regularly supplied to internal combustion engines from pressurized bottles that maintain the fuel in the liquid phase. They are contained at a considerable pressure, and it is necessary to provide a positive lock to prevent fluid flow, including leakage into the system, while the engine is shut down. Another requirement is to convert the fuel from the liquid phase into the gaseous phase at a rate sufficient to supply the engine's demands. These are established and well-known objectives, and fuel locks and converters are available in a wide range of concepts and constructions.
However, it is general practice to provide these devices separately, and to connect them to the engine and to each other by various conduits and linkages. These have the disadvantages of potential for leakage, wear, and malfunction, and also constitute a substantial bulk which must somehow with its accessories be placed under a hood or in some other limited region. To install a plurality of such devices requires interconnecting and fitting the components into whatever space is available. Attempts to integrate these devices have generally been unsuccessful because they have been too bulky, and especially too tall to place in a convenient location under the hood and atop the engine.
It is an object of this invention to provide a unitary fuel lock and liquid fuel converter which not only has an importantly lesser head height and does not require external connections between its parts, but also provides a secondary fuel lock for additional security.